


this is our place (we make the rules)

by MiaBrown



Series: this whole damn city thinks it needs you (but not as much as I do) [7]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Kissing, Ladynoir | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Light Angst, Rules, Secret Relationship, just a sprinkle for flavour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28177047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiaBrown/pseuds/MiaBrown
Summary: Keeping a relationship secret wasn’t that hard. It only required one simple rule. Said rule was:Public display of affection: minimal.The rule was straightforward. The rule was self-explanatory. The rule was violated. Multiple times.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: this whole damn city thinks it needs you (but not as much as I do) [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2056482
Comments: 17
Kudos: 205





	this is our place (we make the rules)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SilverMoonSky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMoonSky/gifts).



> Happy birthday, Silv! <3  
> I hope you have a wonderful day because you absolutely deserve it on every day of the year!  
> The Tumblr tags told me you liked this prompt so I hope you enjoy the execution!
> 
> Thank you to [Khanofallorcs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khanofallorcs/pseuds/Khanofallorcs) and [Maddy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionalinfinity/pseuds/fictionalinfinity) for beta reading!

Keeping a relationship secret wasn’t that hard. It only required one simple rule. Said rule was: **Public display of affection: minimal.**

The rule was straightforward. The rule was self-explanatory. The rule was violated. Multiple times. 

“Watch out!” Chat shouted, flying through the air from the impact of today’s akuma.

However, Ladybug didn’t have time to step aside or prevent the crash otherwise. Her boyfriend landed on top of her and clasped her in a protective embrace to soften the force of the fall as they rolled in the grass. 

When they finally stopped and Ladybug opened her eyes, the suave gaze of the most beautiful forest green eyes welcomed her. “Sorry, Bugaboo! I think _eiffel_ for you.”

Although she couldn’t help the stifled giggle erupting from her throat, for the sake of accountability she tried to school her features into a semblance of discouragement. 

However, she would have had a much easier job in hiding the true nature of their relationship if this situation didn’t emerge in the first place. 

Thus the first addition to the rule was born.

**Addition 1) No flirting.**

“This was awesome, we should do it more often!” Rena Rouge said excitedly after the four-member superhero team’s mandatory fistbump. 

“Absolutely! We should hang out sometime!” Chat said with a wiggle of his eyebrow, addressing his girlfriend rather than anyone else. 

“Definitely, dude!” Carapace agreed.

“Maybe sometime when you all aren’t running out of time,” Ladybug chuckled, pointing at the temporary heroes’ flashing Miraculouses. In all honesty though, even if they didn't know it, she hung out with them plenty in school and there was only so much time she could reserve for secret rooftop rendezvous with her partner. 

“Well, see you sooner or later then!” Chat said, winking subtly at Ladybug. 

She by no mean considered anticipation the best part of their relationship — when there were kisses, and cuddles, and late-night conversations — but even the prospect of seeing him again in a few minutes, when they didn’t need to pretend anymore that they weren’t more than best friends, made her all giddy. 

“It was a pleasure as always, m’lady!” Chat added, planting a totally-subtle kiss on her knuckles. 

“See you later, _mon minou_ ,” she giggled absentmindedly while fighting the intrinsic urge to melt into a puddle to his touch. 

“ _Minou_ , huh?” Rena Rouge asked as soon as Chat departed, her eyebrows elevated curiously.

A traitorous blush started to spread on Ladybug’s cheeks as she was reminded of her slip-up and fished her mind for a viable excuse.

“I, um, I lost a bet,” she shrugged, mentally noting the moral of the story.

**Addition 2) No new nicknames.**

“So tell me, how can you juggle your superhero duties on top of all your day-to-day responsibilities?” Nadja asked, leaning forward. 

“Well, it certainly requires some planning and discipline, and neither of us have much free time, but being there when Paris needs us has always come first,” Ladybug smiled, intertwining her fingers on her knees. 

“How do you manage to find enough time to sustain your relationships in your everyday life?”

“If someone’s important, you can always find the time,” Chat shrugged, casting an automatic soft glance at his partner. 

“Oh, really?”

“Sure! Let me tell you, I know all about tight schedules, but if you want to make time for someone special, nothing is impossible,” he sighed dreamily. 

“And how do you usually spend time with her?” Nadja tilted her head innocently.

“Well, we usually—”

“Chat didn’t say, there _was_ someone special in his life,” Ladybug cut in with a dazzling smile, effectively silencing her partner. 

“Albeit, judging by his train of thought, there clearly is. So, why don’t you tell us more about this matter?” Nadja smiled at the heroes, regarding both of them with a speculative gaze. From the look on her face, it was evident: she could practically feel her promotion in the bag. 

“There really isn’t much to tell. As you’ve pointed out previously, our hands are quite full at the moment. Neither of us have time to date,” Ladybug smiled through gritted teeth. 

“But one day, when you finally discover my _paw_ someness, nothing will be able to stand in the way of our eternal love!” Chat exaggerated, trying to save the situation.

“Just you wait, kitty,” Ladybug answered with a playful roll of her eye and a loving look that said, _‘you’re pushing it, dork!’_

**Addition 3) Avoid talking about dating on interviews. At all costs.**

All it took was a second of inattention. 

In one moment Ladybug and her partner were fighting the akuma, shoulder to shoulder. In the next, Chat jumped in front of her. 

He didn’t take his glistening eyes off of her as he faded away in the blink of an eye. 

“Chaton,” Ladybug whispered, hugging the air uselessly where his body was just a second ago. Tears sprang to life in her eyes but she fought them back, unwilling to accept defeat. She couldn’t give up when he needed her the most. So she wouldn’t.

It didn’t matter if her legs wanted to crumble under her as she stood up to face her enemy, or if all she could hear during the fight was the lack of his laughter. Until he was back, nothing mattered anymore. 

Ladybug hadn’t fought so fiercely in her life, so it was no coincidence that in minutes the akuma was captured and purified. She threw up her Lucky Charm in the air without thinking and watched eagerly as the loveliness of ladybugs restored the landscape of the city. 

Just as fast as he evaporated, Chat Noir appeared out of thin air right where she expected him. 

“Chaton!” Ladybug cried, throwing her arms around him instantly and pressing her lips to his like there was no tomorrow. 

Chat returned the kiss without question, pulling her closer to himself. However, when his mind caught up to the events, he let go of Ladybug all at once and looked around the street they were standing on with panic in his eyes. 

“Bug, what if someone sees us?”

Ladybug shook her head slightly with an amused chuckle. “As long as you’re safe, I don’t give a damn about them,” she declared before going back to kissing her very much real boyfriend. 

**Addition 4) Kisses?**

“What do you mean ‘kisses question mark’? I thought that was a one-time thing,” Chat said astonished, staring at their rules over his girlfriend’s shoulder who sat on his lap. 

Ladybug took a long look at the piece of paper on the hot concrete of the roof before picking it up and creasing it anxiously.

“I know that it’s stupid, it’s just… I’m so tired of keeping my happiness behind closed doors,” she confessed, looking up at him with dazzling eyes. 

She acknowledged with a smirk that even at the dim light of the setting sun, she could still make out her boyfriend’s rapidly blushing cheeks. 

He cleared his throat. “Are you worried about what Hawkmoth would do?”

“No, not really,” she shook her head before adding with a chuckle. “I mean, he already knows we’d die for each other. What more is there to see?”

“Ideally, only I for you,” Chat corrected playfully, earning a stern look from Ladybug. 

She turned around to face him and pointed an accusatory finger at him. “Don’t you dare!”

Chat only laughed and pressed a light kiss to her forehead. “I thought the whole secret keeping was because of Hawkmoth. But if it’s not for him, then why?”

“Chat, the public already watches our every step. Can you imagine the outrage “Ladynoir going canon” would cause?” she laughed, quoting in the air. 

“I think people would be _purr_ etty pleased with that, actually. You know how many of them rooted for me for years?” he asked with an eyebrow wiggle. 

“Maybe some,” Ladybug rolled her eyes playfully. “But what if they think we can’t do our job properly if we’re personally involved? The general no-dating-at-the-workplace rule should apply to us too, shouldn’t it? I don’t want to make the impression that tending to our superhero duties is any less important because of the change in our relationship.”

“Bugaboo, Paris adores you! They would never even think such a thing. They would understand.”

“You can’t know that for sure,” she argued stubbornly. 

“So you would rather write a hundred new rules than admit to breaking one that doesn’t even apply to you?” Chat asked with a disapproving smirk.

“What can I say, I’m good with rules,” Ladybug laughed, shrugging.

“In that case maybe we should add rule number five and six, ‘no brushing of hands’ and ‘no excessive eye-contact’, excessive defined as longer than two seconds,” Chat mused in a fake serious tone. 

“You’re just mocking me now,” Ladybug chided, propping her hands on her hips. 

“I am,” he grinned. “But you love me.”

“Yes.” She couldn’t help but smile back at him, pressing her forehead to his. “Yes, I do.”

Chat captured her lips in a soft kiss and it was very likely that they would have just forgotten about the whole conversation in favour of more pleasant things, if a firm throat clearing didn’t scare them apart. 

“I’m sorry to ruin the moment,” Alya said with a toothy grin that was a telltale sign that she was not, in fact, sorry. “But you know, I happened to hear that you’re camping on _my_ rooftop, so I assumed that maybe you’re here because I can help you with something. But as it turns out, that’s just the case,” she finished cheerily. 

“As in?” Chat prompted warily.

Ladybug stayed silent, the cogs in her head ticking intently, as she calculated exactly how they ended up on Alya’s rooftop to talk through the new modifications their rules required. Not like it mattered anymore. 

“I, um, may have heard and — for exclusively documentary purposes — recorded the whole conversation about your rules, and I think that the public would receive the “leaking” of such a video incredibly well,” Alya said with a fox-like smirk. 

“Leaking our own secret relationship? I don’t know, Alya...” Ladybug said, nibbling on her lower lip.

“I don’t want to burst your bubble, Ladybug, but it won’t really be a surprise for anyone. You weren’t exactly… subtle.”

“And framing it this way, people can see that protecting the city was always your priority,” Chat argued, nuzzling to his girlfriend’s face. 

(Alya _surely_ didn’t squeak audibly at the tender gesture. That must have been the wind.)

“Ah, okay!” Ladybug laughed, pushing him back just enough to stand up before pulling him to his feet too. “Okay, let’s do this!” she said with an excited smile. 

“Does that mean we’re official now?” Chat was practically pulsating with happiness. 

“Looks like it, _minou_ ,” she was saying but the end of the sentence lost in a squeal as Chat lifted her up in the air and spun her around. 

When her feet were back on the ground, Ladybug pressed her forehead to Chat’s. 

“So, we’re getting rid of the rules?” he asked. 

“Something like that. I think we should alter them, actually,” she smirked, presenting the paper that she still held in her grip. 

With a simple flick of her wrist, Ladybug crossed out the additions and noted down a few cursive words next to the base rule. 

**Public display of affection:** ~~**minimal.**~~ **as much as we damn well please.**


End file.
